To Kill a Mockingbird short summary & analysis

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird Analysis

To Kill a Mockingbird Short Summary

Scout’s brother Jem breaks his arms at the age of thirteen. They say different things as to how it happened. Their father Atticus decides that they were both right. They live as a family: Jem, Scout, their father Atticus, the cook Calpurnia in a small town named Maycomb. Their mother died when they were infants.

Every summer they play with Dill who is their neighbor’s nephew. Whole summer they try to get Boo Radley out of his house. Their father Atticus is a lawyer and worked very hard. That year Sout starts the first year of school. His teacher scolds him for knowing how to read and forbids it. He becomes reluctant to go to school. He does not give in until his father promises to read every night. Still, the other students make fun of him and make him go through tough times.

Someone mysterious puts presents and candy in a hollow of a tree on the way of school, but Nathan Radley has it closed with cement. Dill comes again in that summer also but they do not play much this time. Through the late hours of afternoons, on the porch of Mrs. Maude, they sit and chat together.

That winter, old Mrs. Radley dies. A fire breaks out in Mrs. Maude’s house and neighbors help her. Meantime, Atticus was requested to look for a case of an African American man. People of Maycomb react to it strongly and his children are mocked by the kids at school. Atticus tells them to disregard everything and stand up for themselves. They both get cold feet of their neighbor Mrs. Dubose but when she badmouths their father for taking the case of a black man, Jem plucks all of the flowers in her garden. Their father tells them to apologize. Then, Mrs. Dubose wants Jem to read books to her every day. He goes there with Scout and reads books every day yet Mrs. Dubose dies soon after. Atticus says that she was very old and had been sick for many years, so he ended her pain with morphine that she soothes her aches with.

One day Calpurnia takes two kids to the Church that she always goes. Kids meet other African American members of the community and find out that they are good people. The man, Tom Robinson whose case is taken care by Atticus, is accused of raping the Mayor’s daughter. Actually, she cast aspersions on him and nobody gets suspicious as he is a black man. These days, Aunt Alexandra comes to look after the kids. She does not want Scout to act like a boy anymore and to make her behave like a girl, she dresses her a skirt.

When the hearing day comes, Maycomb turns into a festival area. Scout, Jem, and Dill go to court on the sly. Having everyone’s testimony, the jury finds Tom guilty though all the pieces of evidence show the contrary. Those days it is death punishment for a culprit if he/she is black. Tom get hanged. Kids cry him a river.

Through the end of October there is a show in the school. Scout has the role of ham. That night she and Jem go together. On the way back it is quite dark and she wants to take the costume off. Just then, someone attacks the children. But the man suddenly stops, someone comes and rescues them. Kids did not see any faces as it was too dark to see. Their father arrives. Jem’s arm is broken so he receives treatment. Scout grows apprehensive about him but doctor and Atticus tell that he is going to be okay. In the meantime, Mr. Ewell who attacked the kids is found dead with a knife in his stomach. Atticus worries as he thinks Jem might have done it but actually while trying to kill the kids Mr. Ewell stumbled and fell on the knife. Mr. Tate sheds light on this and tells that this was no one’s fault. It was Boo Radley who saved the kids. Scout becomes very happy when she sees him. She also finds out that it was Boo who put the gifts in the hollow of the tree. Scout sits on the porch with him and tells his father that he is a very nice guy.

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